Snowboarding tickets canceled

VANOC announced today that all standing room tickets for the snowboarding events at Cypress Mountain -- snowboard cross, halfpipe and parallel giant slalom -- have been canceled because of the potential of unsafe conditions for spectators.

Grandstand tickets are still valid, but the move by Canadian organizers invalidates a total of 28,000 tickets for the six events, including yesterday's men's SBX. Ticket holders will be given refunds.

"It is too unstable and unsafe to have people walking around the course," said Caley Denton, VANOC's vice president of ticketing, at a news conference in Vancouver.

Organizers put hay bales along the course, then dropped snow over it in order to build up the Cypress Mountain courses. Heavy rains, however, have washed away much of the snow. Denton said people could "punch through" the snow crust and sink up to their knees -- or deeper -- in between the bales of hay.

The women's SBX scheduled this morning for 10 a.m. Pacific has been twice delayed by rain and fog, but is scheduled to begin at noon.